Firepoint
by SuperJimmy978
Summary: Stahl and Gaius have never been close, and an incident on the route back to Ylisstol furthers the distance between them. But then history is rewritten, and their world is replaced with a merciless hellhole, ravaged by tyranny and revolution. Now they must put aside their differences if they are to survive in this new world - and restore their own before it's too late.
1. Stahl

**Quick disclaimer: The title and general idea for this story were inspired by the DC Comics miniseries,** _ **Flashpoint.**_

 **Oh, and since it's the only pairing that can't happen in the actual game, do know now that CordeliaxSumia is present here.**

 **With that out of the way, enjoy.**

* * *

Stahl let out a smile as gazed upon the sun before him.

It had been three days since Robin sacrificed himself to take out Grima once and for all. While Stahl, along with the entire army, was devastated by the loss of Robin, they were also ecstatic that the war was finally over. It had been a rigorous and harsh effort, but they defeated the Fell Dragon for good – and the bad future Lucina and the other children hailed from would not come to pass.

After the fall of Grima, the army had a celebration to themselves, one that would ultimately pale in comparison to the one that would come when they returned to Ylisstol. They had marched nonstop for the past three days, and though they were only two or three hours away from the capital of Ylisse, Chrom had decided that that the Shepherds could use a break. They had this night to breathe and relax, and to prepare for the overwhelming celebration tomorrow.

Stahl let out a sigh of relief as he took a good look at the lush and wonderful forest that laid not too far from the Shepherds' campsite. It felt nice to feel this peace and quiet, without the pressures and horrors of war glooming down on his shoulders.

His thoughts were briefly interrupted when Nowi came running towards the cavalier knight, a bright smile illuminating from her face.

"Hey, Stahl!" the tiny manakete burst out to Stahl. "Have you seen my delightful Gregor anywhere?"

Stahl chuckled. "Last I saw, he was chatting with Anna in the mess tent about something."

"Thanks!" Nowi replied, and the enthusiastic woman left to find her husband.

Stahl was glad to see that Nowi wasn't gloom or depressing, but every now and then, he had to wonder how she maintained her bright and cheerful outlook on things. Let alone was she forced to watch as the people she got to know eventually aged and died, but she had lived a rough life, having been sold and traded into slavery at various points in her life. Stahl didn't like to think about it too much, feeling it wasn't really his business.

Stahl began thinking about his wife, Lissa. They had been married for over two years, and sometimes, he still couldn't believe he married a princess. He was technically a part of Ylisse's royal family, and he still needed to get used to the citizens treating him as if he's above them. While he found it a bit daunting to be related to the likes of Chrom and Lucina, if only through marriage, his son Owain was the one who really made Stahl raise an eyebrow. Growing up, Stahl didn't really think about what his children would be like, but he never expected them to be as hammy and theatrical as he was.

"Stahl! Get your ass over here!" Stahl turned around to see Sully sitting at a table, with Donnel standing right by it.

Stahl laughed at Sully's comment. He had trained alongside Sully, so he knew that she lacked malice whenever she cursed to him like that. He took a seat next to Sully, and it was only when he sat down that he noticed her husband, Kellam, sitting next to her. Stahl wished he could notice Kellam more easily, but he was glad to see the knight. Sully, Donnel, and Kellam had grown to be his closest friends during the war, and it was nice to be with them once more.

Just then, he noticed Cordelia and Sumia walking over towards their group. The two Pegasus Knights were married, to the surprise of almost no one – except Ricken and Vaike, who had both developed crushes on Cordelia before she hooked up with her childhood friend. It wasn't long after Stahl noticed the two that Sumia tripped onto the ground, something the entire army had long gotten used to. Cordelia helped Sumia up, and the imposingly statuesque redhead leaned in and pressed a kiss towards the top of her much shorter wife's forehead before Sully invited the two to sit with them.

After a few minutes of the six chatting with each other, Donnel brought a question. "So…what are y'all doing with the rest of yer lives?"

Sumia was the first to answer. "Well, Cordelia and I will be granted a stretch of pasture out west and we're gonna begin raising Pegasi together!"

Cordelia stepped in for some clarification. "I'll help out with the Pegasus farm, of course, but I also plan on continuing my service in the army. Serving the people of Ylisse as a knight has been a lifetime goal of mine, and I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon."

Kellam sighed. "Well, I plan on continuing my service as knight, too…and I gotta work on making people notice me. I feel like my name's just gonna be lost to history."

"Ooh," Sumia replied. "Kellam. I didn't notice you were there. I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright." Kellam replied in an assuring voice, but he was still upset by it - as exemplified by his second, deeper sigh.

Sully scoffed at Kellam's quarrel. "Don't worry, babe. I will always love the freaking crap out of you, regardless if anyone ever notices you!"

"And besides, Kellam," Cordelia piped in, "It's not about the fame. It's about the journey you take yourself on, and the friends you make along the way. My advice: Just focus on living a good life."

Kellam smiled, having been reassured, before Donnel spoke up. "Well, and I know you and Stahl are continuing yer service, Sully….man. You guys wer' all fantastic, but I'm just gonna retire to my village and help out my Ma. Fightin' just ain't for me."

Stahl chuckled. "That's fine – live the life you want to live." Stahl was very happy to be here with his friends. He planned on visiting most of his Shepherds whenever he could over the years, but he didn't know how much time he would have for that, having to live life as a prince and all.

Before Stahl could delve in his thoughts any deeper, Sumia piped in with a book recommendation. "Hey, everyone! I almost forgot!" she said as she placed a book onto the table. "This book here, _The Ocarina of Time_ , is simply fantastic! The story is so deep and compelling, and gosh darn it, the atmosphere is simply breathtaking! I cannot recommend it enough!"

As Stahl looked back on his time in the army, he did realize there would be a few things he had already come to regret, and one of them was not getting closer to Sumia. They had always gotten along well, but as he thought about it, Stahl felt that could've had a wonderful friendship given their traits and quirks. Lissa would always have the key to his heart, but he would try to see if they could visit the two Pegasus Knights on occasion.

Speaking of Lissa, he saw her and their son Owain dashing towards them. Stahl actually hadn't talked to his son all day, and he was lambasting himself for that. He told himself that he had to make an effort to be a better father from here on out.

"There you are, Father!" Owain exclaimed with his usual boldness. Stahl still could not believe this was his son.

"Hey, son…how you doing!"

"I am doing excellent! I just wanted you to know that after the great celebrations tomorrow, I will going away, on an epic quest to stay my sword hand!"

It was then that Stahl noticed a deadpan expression on his wife's face. "Dear, can you please talk him out of it?"

"Uh…" Stahl was obliged to follow through with Lissa's request, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well, Owain, you see…." And then it finally clicked to him. "Think about it Owain. You've had a rough life. You came from a future where everything went to hell, and we just vanquished the source of all the misery and suffering you had to endure. That's some pretty heavy stuff. I advise you stay in Ylisstol for a while and try to live a peaceful life."

Owain cupped his chin as he thought about it. He had to concede that his father had a point – he had been through a lot in his life, and he had technically already gone on an epic quest with his friends to prevent a full-blown apocalypse. He decided that his father was right. "You know what, father…I'll tone it down for a while. But mark my words – an epic quest will call my name!"

Stahl chucked. "Well, that's good enough for now, I guess…" And with that, Owain dashed away. He had plans with Inigo and Brady right about then.

' _Huh. That actually worked._ ' Stahl couldn't help but think to himself. Lissa stayed behind and hugged Stahl from behind, kissing his cheek.

"You look handsome as always, love!"

Stahl couldn't help but blush when she said that, and grinned like a child. "Thanks, Lissa…actually, I was thinking we could go out for a bite! I know dinner's not for too long, but I'm so hungry I could eat a Pegasus!"

Sumia gasped when she heard that while Cordelia widened her eyes. Kellam sighed and shook his head, and everyone else was aghast at Stahl making that comment in front of the two. Stahl was initially confused as to why everyone was looking at him funny, before it quickly hit him.

"Oh, shoot! Cordelia, Sumia, I am so sorry! Pegasuses – erm, Pegasi -, are very beautiful creatures. While I have always had a soft spot for horses myself, I have great respect for Pegasi and those who ride them. I would never eat one. …I swear."

Before Cordelia or Sumia could respond, Lissa groaned. "Come, on Stahl. Let's go eat."

"Erm, right…uh, see you all at dinner." Stahl smiled nervously as he quickly departed with his wife.

They walked silently for about a minute, before Lissa finally mustered up something to say to her partner. "Stahl…I love you to death, but sometimes you make me facepalm so hard."

Stahl smiled nervously as he looked down at his petite wife. "Sorry, honey. I swear, something like that won't happen again."

"…Well, at least it wasn't anything too bad. And Cordelia and Sumia are forgiving people."

Stahl continued to let nervousness color his mood. "Yeah, I hope they do…" Just then, they saw Severa and Cynthia passing by them. The daughters of Cordelia and Sumia looked to be bickering with one another as they walked, which was also something the camp was used to. As Stahl watched them passed by, the thought of how the girls came to be pondered through his head.

"Speaking of Cordelia and Sumia…uh, how are they going to have children?" Stahl had actually been wondering that ever since Severa and Cynthia joined the Shepherds, but he never brought it up until now. Lissa let that deadpan look shine through her again.

"Was that a real question? We live in a world of magic! Spells and hexes are common fact! That's how!"

"Okay, okay, I was just wondering…." Stahl began thinking about his future with Lissa. He was always confident that the Shepherds would prevail against Grima and prevent the Risen and the Grimleal from overwhelming humanity and bringing about its end, but he never thought about what the future would hold until a few days before the final battle. He always tried to stay on the optimistic and brighter side of things, but he couldn't pretend that the new future would be sickeningly perfect. Lissa picked up on her husband's uneasiness.

"Hey, relax. You know I was just giving you a hard time…"

Stahl jumped briefly, having been snapped back into reality by his wife. "I know you were. It's just…what do you think the future will be like? I mean, I'm very glad Grima's gone, even though Robin had to give his own life for it, but…I just can't help but wonder what the new future will be." Stahl let out a deep sigh.

Lissa grabbed his hand, and Stahl always loved how warm and soft her hands were. "Look, the future won't be perfect. But then, nothing is. I won't worry about the future, because I have some of the best people I could ask for by my side. There's Chrom, and Owain, and Maribelle…and you. The most fantastic husband a girl could ask for. Yeah, I know I sound a bit corny right now, but I mean it. As long as you are by my side, I'm confident the future will be spectacular."

Stahl's cheeks were burning. It felt good to have someone he could share his devotion and passion with. He leaned down to give Lissa a tremendous kiss. As he thought about what she said, he realized that his wife was right. As long as he had people like Lissa and Kellam to support him and help him out, he felt he was going to do fine. Yes, the future would have some scary moments, but he felt he could get through it with the help of the relationships he had built over the last few years.

Just as Stahl leaned back up from their kiss, he could see Chrom behind him. Chrom had reassured Stahl that he was a great brother-in-law, but Stahl still hoped the Captain didn't see too much of that.

"Lissa! I need your help on something!" the bluenet said to his little sister. Lissa leaned up kiss Stahl's chin before following her brother. Stahl walked away, smiling brightly as he walked on, content. He unknowingly passed by Gaius. And Gaius…well, he looked to be in a much dourer mood.

* * *

 **I normally wouldn't put disclaimers at the end, but I'll make a exception here. I just want to say that the first four chapters are basically a prologue. The number of chapters will reach the high twenties, so it won't be too bad *I hope*. Just wanted to give a heads up.**


	2. Gaius

Unlike Stahl, Gaius hadn't let it sink in that this was his last night with the Shepherds – because he was feeling very out of it today. He slept in until a quarter after 1, to the dismay of his wife Maribelle. And he just found himself tripping and bumping around everything and everyone.

He had just finished dealing with his son, Brady, and he took a glance at Vaike and Lon'qu – the two were sparring, though Gaius felt it was unnecessary since the war was over. He carried his sack of candy with him as he walked around, looking for Maribelle. He was unaware of the mud in front of him until it was too late. He slipped and fell, his outfit now covered in the slimy, wet mud. He was bummed that his outfit was ruined, but what really got him was that a good chunk of his candy had fallen out of the bag and into the mud. He groaned loudly as he picked up the bag, only for a giant hole to rip out. Gaius' face turned red as the rest of his candy got spoiled in the mud.

"Damnit, damnit, _damnit_!" Gaius yelled out. Gaius' rage drew the attention of Basilio, who had been looking for Lon'qu and just so happened to witness the whole thing.

"Look at you, all muddy and pouty!" Basilio said as he chuckled taking a little amusement from this situation. Gaius narrowed his eyes at the ruler of West-Khan, thinking he should mind his own business.

"Laugh it up, Gramps. But let's see how you react when your beer gets all spoiled!"

Basilio smirked and shook his head. "Yes, I would get angry over that. But there's more beer and candy where that came from, son. Now, have you seen Flavia anywhere?"

Before Gaius could answer, he saw an ax careening its way towards him. ' _SHIT!_ ' he thought to himself as he just barely dodged the axe, which landed safely on the ground. He was scared out of his mind and sweating profusely. Not even during battle had he brushed that closely to death. And he knew only one person could be responsible, so he wasn't surprised when he saw Vaike running to get his axe.

"Oh crap! The Vaike is truly sorry!" the fighter yelled to Gaius, angering his orange-haired companion further.

"The Vaike is truly sorry?! That's all you say after you almost took off my damn head?! What the hell, Vaike?!"

"Look, Teach is really sorry. The Vaike was just sparring with Lon'qu and lost the grip on my axe!"

Just then, Lon'qu walked up to Vaike. He was just as unpleased with this situation as Gaius, as showcased by his irritated groan. "…What the hell was that, Vaike? You're really lucky the war with the Risen is already over. Such a mistake is unacceptable!"

"The Vaike knows, the Vaike knows!" Vaike walked up to Gaius and placed his hand on the thief's shoulder. "Teach will make it up to you, Gaius!"

Even though Vaike's efforts were not entirely unappreciated, Gaius couldn't stand the fighter's hand on his shoulder. He only groaned as he shook Vaike's hand off his shoulder. He noted to himself how quickly the day had escalated – how quickly he went from just feeling out of it to almost getting his head torn off. Basilio, meanwhile, had not said anything during the whole entire situation, and decided to keep his mouth shut regarding it. Instead, he turned his attention to Lon'qu.

"Lon'qu, my good man! I'm looking for Flavia. Have you and 'the Vaike' seen her anywhere?"

"Oh, she's hanging out with Say'ri on the other side of camp!" a voice suddenly piped in. It was Lon'qu's wife, Cherche. She smiled when saw Lon'qu, and wrapped her arms around his right arm and nuzzled against his shoulder. Lon'qu still wasn't entirely used to a woman being this close to him, but he had grown content enough to allow it.

Basilio left his four comrades to go on the other side of camp and find Flavia. Vaike, still by Gaius' side, extended his arms and exclaimed "Well, Lon'qu, this was fun, but Teach will leave you with your lady!" he brought down his arms, unaware that the end of his axe would make contact with Gaius' gonads until it was too late.

Gaius fell to the ground, unable to get up. Before Vaike could say anything, Gaius snarled at Vaike, signaling to the muscular blond that it would be best if he just left before he did any more damage, which is what he did. As Gaius moaned very loudly, Cherche and Lon'qu bore concerned expressions on their faces.

"Gaius, are you alright?" Cherche asked in a worried tone, letting go of Lon'qu's arm.

"Vaike almost killed me and then took a number on my manhood…but I'll be alright. Don't worry about me."

Cherche was still worried, but Lon'qu urged her to respect his wish for solitude, and the two left. Gaius looked up to see the Lon'qu leaning down to kiss Cherche, blushing deeply as he did – his face was always as red as a strawberry whenever he kissed or even hugged his wife. Everybody's jaws dropped the day he and Cherche announced their engagement. He always chuckled when he thought about how the flirtatious and womanizing Virion remained unmarried – along with Vaike, Donnel, and Ricken – while the gynophilic Lon'qu got married to not just any woman, but Virion's former vassal.

He didn't think about cakes for long, though, for pretty soon Maribelle came to mind. As he got up, taking up a lot of his strength in doing so, he thought about how they met. She initially despised him for framing her father for a crime. He remembered how just the sight of him would make her blood boil – how her face would even turn the very color of blood. And now they shared a tent, and after tomorrow, they would share a house. It helped that Gaius only framed her father to save her life, but he still smiled about how big a leap they took.

He did wonder how Brady turned out the way he did – a boy who looked brutish and tough, but was really just an easily frightened crybay who threw a fit over the little things. He loved his son, but he wished that in this timeline, Brady could at least get a scar from something more epic than a violin string. He then got thinking about how odd it would be to have two versions of his one son running around – just the mere thought made his head hurt.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Henry walking up towards him. Gaius never knew what to think of Henry – the kid seemed like a nice guy deep down, but he was always so enthusiastic about death and killing that it took him aback. He never quite knew how a conversation with the dark mage would go, and this time would be no different.

"Hey-o, Gaius, what's up? You wouldn't believe what Panne - ooooh, you look like you want to be splattered across the wall" the energetic lad said, showing off that ever-present smile.

"Well, Junior, I haven't been having the best day so far." Gaius still kneeled, for the pain down there was too great for him to stand up. Henry's smile morphed into a grin, leaving Gaius all the more confused as to where this was all going.

"Ooh…you got hurt…there. Pain down there is every man's bane. No worries, nyahaha!" he opened up his spell book. "Ah, here it is! This curse will relieve you of all your pain!" Henry finished with a snap of his fingers.

Gaius suddenly shot straight up, feeling a horrible sensation. It felt as if every organ in his body had gone up in smokes. He knew he wasn't burning alive, but it the feeling that flames were spreading across his entire body was overwhelming. He pranced around yelping in pain, wishing that the sensation could end already. Rarely had he ever felt this agonizing in his entire life, and as sweat rained down from his forehead, his eyes began turning red. Finally, after about two or three minutes, it finally got to a point where he could stand straight and still. He still felt the agony, but it wasn't quite as overwhelming. He glared down at the white-haired mage, who continued to smile up at him.

"Oh, I forgot to mention the whole 'feeling like you're burning alive" thing. Forgive me, I didn't really realize this spell was a thing. You'll feel that pain for a few more hours, but after that, you'll have trouble feeling pain for quite some time! Nyahaha!"

"A heads-up wouldn't have hurt!" Gaius snarked grouchily. "But…thank you. In a weird way."

Sensing that his work was done, Henry skedaddled away, and Gaius groaned. After the crap Vaike and Henry had just put him through, the thief wanted a moment to relax. He took this time to just breathe and stare at the sky, and let it finally sink in that this was his last day with the Shepherds.

Before he could reminiscence about his time as a soldier for Chrom, Maribelle found him. Gaius was relieved to have finally found his wife, but she didn't look as happy to see him.

"Honey, are you alright?!" she asked. Even though sternness colored her face, the concern in her voice showed how she was really feeling. "I could hear you yelling! You worried me sick!"

"Yeah…I'm alright. Man, am I happy to see you, babe!" Just as he was walking towards his wife, he tripped and fell onto the ground. This was but an inconvenience compared to what he had suffered through earlier, but he was frustrated nonetheless.

"Now, what was that? Who are you, Sumia?"

"Look, I haven't been having a very good day. I lost half of my candy, I almost got my head torn off, I did get my nuts slammed upon, and I felt like I was burning alive. And also, I've been really feeling out of it all day. I just want to be with you." Gaius went to wrap Maribelle around her arms, but the troubadour stepped away, leaving Gaius dumbfounded.

"Don't touch me, Gaius! You may hold me, but only after you clean yourself up! Look at you! You're all muddy!"

Gaius gazed his appearance, and he was indeed quite dirty from the trip into the mud. This did not undo the dumbfounded look on his face. Maribelle let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Listen, Gaius. You have married into nobility. It's time you started acting like it! Nobles don't walk around with mud spread all tegument in mud! It's ludicrousness!

Gaius let a sigh of his own break free as he looked down at his wife. "Tegument? What does that – never mind. Listen, Twinkles, we already discussed this. I'm not exactly going to live the life of a noble, even if I'm married to one."

Maribelle's face began turning red. "Yes. I know you'll be performing tasks not traditional to the noble lifestyle! But you're still going to events and dinners and parties as a nobleman! Start taking it seriously! Now go!"

Gaius didn't want to bring up that he had little time to clean himself up, for he felt it wasn't worth it. "I'm just going to go clean myself up…."

As walked away, he sighed deeply. The last thing he wanted was to start fighting with Maribelle, and Gaius could tell that he had made her irritated. He thought about it, and had Maribelle not demanded that he clean himself up, he might still be walking around with mud spots. He didn't want to think about it any further, though. He just wanted to get this over with so he could prevent this minor squabble from turning into something major.

* * *

After Lissa departed to perform an unknown task with her brother, Stahl went back to chatting with Sully, Kellam, and Donnel. Severa and Cynthia had demanded that Cordelia and Sumia help them with something, so they had left right as he came back – to his dismay. He wanted to make up for the awkward, moment-killing remark he had made.

He had just got up and left the table to go looking for his wife. Chrom and Lissa had been gone for quite a while now, and he wanted to make sure nothing was happening. As he walked around, he caught a glimpse of Chrom's wife, Olivia, chatting with Libra, Frederick, and Tharja. Of all the couples that were born out of this war, Frederick and Tharja were the ones that Stahl felt he would never understand.

Right as the brunet was about to ask Olivia about Chrom and Lissa's whereabouts, Lucina caught his attention. She was sitting alone at a table, the sadness in her eyes all too apparent to Stahl. She looked at her hands as she frowned greatly. Stahl had just realized that he had not talked to his niece since shortly before the final battle with Grima, and he figured this would be a good time to change that as he walked up to her.

"Lucina," he said, gaining the attention of the blue-haired swordswoman. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, Uncle Stahl" she let out a deep sigh. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine. I can see it in your eyes. It's…it's Robin, isn't it?"

Lucina sprang up and sniffled, worrying Stahl further. "It's just…Grima is gone. The source of all the pain, all the suffering, all the misery my friends and I went through is gone for good. We defied the course of history and saved the entire world from the wretched grasp of the Fell Dragon! I should feel ecstatic for once…but I can't. I can't stop thinking about Robin" It became painfully clear to Stahl that his niece had been burying all of this down for the past three days, but just couldn't keep in the pain anymore. "I don't get it, Uncle Stahl….I just…it's just…why?!"

Stahl took a deep breath. It would be inept of him to just leave Lucina in this state. He plastered on a reassuring smile and placed his hand on Lucina's shoulder.

"Look, honey…you're right. You just helped take down the source of all the agony you and the other children went through. But you also lost the man you loved. It's only human to pine for him. Trust me, we all want Robin back, but he was your husband! You have every right to be upset! But trust me on another thing: Robin will come back."

Lucina sniffled once more, and tears began shedding down from her eyes. "But what if he doesn't? I know there's Morgan…but he's from a different timeline. A timeline that might not come to pass. I just…I just…"

"Look, Lucina. I won't lie or sugarcoat it to you. Best case scenario, it'll be a few months before we see Robin again. Shoot, it might be years. But I swear to you, Robin will return. And if somehow, he doesn't….well, you have people here for you. You have your parents, your brother, your Aunt Lissa, and me. If you ever need me, I will be here for you"

Lucina sniffed one more time before hugging her uncle tightly. "Thank you, Uncle Stahl"

Stahl smiled as he hugged Lucina back. He felt terrible for her – how she helped vanquish the source of her misery, only to lose the love of her life in the process. He hoped it was something he would never have to go through himself. He hoped he would never find himself in a situation where he would lose his precious Lissa and possibly never see her again. He didn't have any idea how he would do in such a situation – and it was not something he wanted to think about any further. He just wanted to make sure his niece was doing better. And while he really believed it would at least be months before Robin was found, he hoped the two could reunite as soon as possible.

Just then, Lissa came bolting towards the duo, an enormous grin colored onto her face. "Stahl, Lucina, there you guys are – and awwww"

Lucina pulled away from her uncle to see what her aunt wanted to discuss. "Um, yes, Aunt Lissa. I was just talking with Uncle Stahl. What came up?"

"It's Robin! Chrom and I found Robin!"


	3. Ruined Reunion

Gaius and Maribelle took their seats next to Brady in the tables of the mess tent. It was crowded, and everyone was murming and discussing what was going on. Chrom said that he had a 'special surprise' for the entire camp, but no one had any idea what it could be. Just about everyone figured it would be connected to this being their last night all-together as an army, but beyond that, no one had a clue. What perplexed everyone further is that none of the royal family could be found. Chrom, Olivia, Lucina, and Inigo were nowhere to be found, and even Stahl, Lissa, Owain, and Morgan had yet to show up.

It wasn't long before the entire royal family showed up, however, and when they did, they all had big smiles on their faces – even the normally stoic Lucina, which raised everyone's eyebrows. The royal family stood silent by the entrance, and the Shepherds stopped their murmuring when Chrom walked up to speak.

"My friends…I promised you all that I would go through hell and back looking for Robin, and well…" Chrom let out a chuckle. "The search is already over! I give you the master tactician himself, Robin!"

The royal family all moved aside, and from the entrance came Robin. To say that everyone was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement as overwhelming and uproarious cheers spewed from the entire army. Stahl was far from the only person to think it would take months or years to find the tactician – the entire army had fallen to that belief. To see him here now – to see that he would be there for tomorrow's celebrations after all – let out roars of joy no one thought they would hear until said celebrations. Lucina gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, and everyone got up to greet Robin. The light blonde-haired man couldn't help but blush at all the pat-backing and hair-ruffling he was getting.

It took a while, but everyone eventually settled down and began chatting among themselves again, with Gaius, Maribelle, and Brady all sitting back down together, with Gaius raising an eyebrow at the river of tears flowing from Brady's face.

"Come on, Brady…" Gaius groaned, wishing his son would stop crying.

"I'm sorry, father. It's just…Lucina has reunited with her love and she can have a happy ending after all! It's so sweet!" Brady continued to sob.

"Yeah, good on her, but do you have to cry this much?"

"Whaddya expect? I ain't good with emotions, father!" Just then, Owain showed up, looking for Brady. He thought nothing of his friend's crying, as it was Brady being Brady, and told him that he had to check out what Inigo was doing. With Brady gone, Gaius decided to talk to Maribelle about their son.

"Twinkles, between you and me…I hope we can raise the new Brady so that he turns out differently. Don't get me wrong, I love the other Brady and have no shame for him. I just don't think I can put up with them both being like…that."

Maribelle sported a deadpan look. "I'm right there with you."

Just then, Stahl and Lissa came to the pair, with Maribelle leaping up to give her best friend an enormous hug. Stahl took a seat opposite Gaius, and after a minute, Lissa and Maribelle sat down next to their husbands.

Lissa grinned ear-to-ear. "Maribelle, can you believe we helped take down Grima?!"

Maribelle gave out a smile of her own. "Darling, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

"I remember when you and I were growing up…sometimes, we would talk about where we thought our lives are going? I thought I had a pretty good idea of where my life was going, but I never imagined…this."

Maribelle's smile morphed into a smirk. "That's what I always kept telling you – sometimes, life takes you in completely unexpected directions…"

"You're telling me. So much has happened over the past two years that I could have never dreamed of, Maribelle!"

Ever since they were kids, Lissa and Maribelle could talk for days on end, and this time was no different. Neither Stahl nor Gaius felt they could pipe in – when Lissa and Maribelle talked, it seemed like they tuned out everyone else. Stahl decided to get up real quick and get himself some food – though what was 'some' food to him was unbelievable to most others. He went up and got himself three plates worth of bear meat, a sight Olivia and Frederick wish they could be shocked at.

"What's your secret, Stahl?" Olivia asked. "How do you eat so much and stay so thin?"

Stahl had been asked that question a fair number of times in his life, including this very war, and he never knew what to say because frankly, he didn't know why himself. All he could do was shrug. "That, Olivia…is a very good question. Ha, I hope to crack my own secret one day"

Frederick sighed at the sight of Stahl's plates of bear meat. "And just…how, Stahl? How can you eat so much bear meat? It's repulsive!"

Stahl raised an eyebrow. "Your taste buds are a real quirk, Frederick. Bear meat is a gift from the gods!"

"Agree to disagree, my fellow knight. Enjoy your accursed bear meat" Stahl couldn't help but chuckle when those words came out of Frederick's mouth, mostly because of the deadpan tone he carried when saying it. Stahl went back to the table and took his seat next to Maribelle, who was still in deep conversation with Maribelle.

"Darling, I have but one question: How did you react upon finding Robin?"

"Chrom and I weren't sure what to do. After all, nobody expected to find Robin this soon! I don't know how to put it. It's just…I was so happy when he woke up. Well, okay, I was more relieved. I knew we would find him one day – I was just glad that day didn't take years to come…"

"Aren't we all?" Maribelle was just about to go on, but Robin walked up to the four and tapped Lissa's shoulder.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but there's something Chrom and Oliva are debating over…something about their castle, and they'd like the input of you two" With that, Lissa and Maribelle followed Robin to the Exalt and Queen of Ylisse, leaving Stahl and Gaius alone.

For a minute, there was but an awkward silence. Stahl had noticed the irony – their wives were the best of friends, but the two men themselves had never really gotten close. Stahl had always figured he should try to get closer to the thief in order to lessen this awkward situation, but he could never really think of what to say.

Stahl finally cleared his throat, deciding to just talk about Robin. "So…crazy how Robin was found so soon, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah" Gaius replied, relieved that Stahl was the one to break the ice. "But it's just a relief we did, you know?"

"I know! I'm so happy he'll be there tomorrow, given he contributed so much to our war efforts!" as Stahl continued on, Gaius proceeded to pull up a sack, one that contained his remaining candy, and Stahl's eyes widened. He had always questioned how Gaius managed to carry so much candy around with him, and this seemed like a good time to ask.

"Hey, Gaius, um…how do you always carry so much candy around with you?"

Gaius initially gave out an 'hmm' before replying, "Oh, well, it's just my thing. I've been doing this kind of thing since I was but a lad."

"Huh, cool." Stahl pondered for a bit as he observed all of Gaius' candy. "Say, Gaius, all that candy sure looks delicious."

"Don't stare too hard, Munches. This candy is for me and me only. If you so much as take a single bit out of any of this…you'll live to regret it. Trust me."

Stahl was a bit taken aback by the sudden aggression, and didn't really know what to say. "Oh…um, okay" This had gotten painfully awkward for both of them. There was another minute of awkward silence between the two as they tried to figure out what to say or do next. Gaius was both surprised and relieved when Maribelle ran up to the two, taking Gaius by his hand and dashing off with the sweet-toothed man. Stahl thought about what that could've been about, but decided to just enjoy this time to himself.

He took a look at his son, who was watching with Brady and Cynthia as Inigo tried to show some dancing moves to Severa in an attempt to woo the mercenary lass. Evidently, it didn't' work, as Severa simply brushed Inigo off and walked away, a sight Owain, Brady, and Cynthia all laughed at.

Stahl smiled at the kids having fun – it was nice to see them with the weight of Grima and the hellhole of a future finally off their shoulders. He hoped the rest would go on to lead fulfilling lives. His attention was taken by Lucina, who was with Morgan, and he walked up towards his niece and great-niece.

"I'm very happy for you, Lucina." Stahl said with a smile on his face.

Lucina looked up at her uncle and smiled back. "Thank you…..I just…I'm so glad Robin's back."

"I know you are." Stahl patted Lucina on the shoulder. After seeing her so glum for so long, Stahl loved seeing his niece so content. Brady called for the two girls, and Morgan dragged Lucina away from her uncle to chat with the priest. Stahl turned his attention to Gaius' candy. As he pointed out earlier, Gaius knew where the find the most delicious of sweets. Gaius had already made it very clear not to eat any of his candy, but Stahl's mouth almost drooled at the sight of it all.

Perhaps a few pieces wouldn't hurt.

* * *

"Gaius, are you absolutely sure you don't want to reform from your life of crime?" Libra asked, puzzled at the choices his soon-to-be-former comrade was making concerning his life.

"Padre, I'm a thief. It's who I am. But if a better opportunity ever presents itself to my door, I will take it. Maribelle will make enough money as a magistrate, but I wouldn't want her raising Brady alone if I was arrested or killed."

Libra let out a sigh. "Well, that's nice to hear. I suppose I can't stop you…so take care of yourself, Gaius. May the gods be with you." And with that, Libra walked away. He had nothing else to say to the thief. He had hoped he could try to get Gaius down on a better walk of life after the war's end, but now he realized it was a vain effort. He would no longer try to stop Gaius from going back to thievery, something the orange-haired man was perfectly fine with.

He did not stay content for longer, however, for Maribelle was about to bring news he would find less than satisfactory.

"Gaius, dear, Lissa and I were talking, and well…we're going to be attending about four or five social events in the next two weeks. I don't want to go to that many events myself, but we're nobles. We'll have to show ourselves."

Gaius rubbed his neck as he let out an 'uhh' which did not sound good to his wife. "I don't know how many of those events I'll be going to, love…if any. I've already gotten some sweet jobs coming up soon."

Maribelle glared at her husband. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to cancel those 'jobs' of yours if our schedules conflict."

Gaius scoffed, while dreading where this was all going. "Look, some of the guys I work with on these jobs…you can't just cancel on them. If I can't make it to one of the events, then I won't try to. I'm sorry, Twinkles, but that's just how it is."

Maribelle's face began reddening, and now Gaius really didn't like where this was going. "No, that is not the way it is! I don't approve of your 'jobs' to begin with, but I am not going to any parties alone while my husband is off doing some questionable things I don't want to think of. You will be going, and that's that!"

Gaius groaned louder than he intended to as his own face began to redden. He had always been good at maintaining his cool, but today was different. He could feel himself beginning to crack. "Why, Twinkles? Why must your social events take immediate priority?! I would like to…you what, never mind. I'm just going to have some sweets to calm myself down. We'll talk about this later" He decided that satisfying his candy addiction would help him pull himself together – as it had done so in the past.

He turned around to head back to his table, but just as he did, Sumia tripped over nothing once more. This time, she had been carrying a pie for her and Cordelia, and the pie flung right towards Gaius' chest, covering his outfit in blueberry.

Cordelia let out a sigh while Sumia look aghast, taking notice of Gaius' ever-reddening face. "Oh, shoot! Gaius, I am so sorry! Here, I can help you clean up."

"No!" Right after Gaius snapped, he tried to calm himself down as he saw Sumia grow more upset and Cordelia sport a glare towards him. "Just…don't worry about it, okay? Sometimes, timing can make all the difference. Just leave me be for a while."

He stormed away, hoping that his sweets could calm him down. When he finally reached the table, he felt he was burning on the inside again, for all his candy was gone. Stahl had gotten carried away and inadvertently eaten it all. When Stahl saw Gaius and his death glare, his own eyes widened as he had realized what he had done.

But there was nothing he could say to calm down Gaius now. On any day, eating all of his candy would've been a surefire way to send Gaius after you, but Stahl had picked a very bad day to do so. Gaius could feel all the rage bubbling under the surface as he tried desperately to calm himself down before he succumbed to all the crap he had gone through and let it all out. But it was too late.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Gaius was so loud and so enraged that he attracted the attention of the entire army. Stahl didn't know how to respond as Gaius stepped closer to him, his face truly the color of blood.

"I specifically told you not to eat any of my candy or any of my sweets, but what do you do?! You eat it anyway?! Is your stomach just that overpowering?! What is your problem?!" He then turned around to face the entire army. "Hell, some of the shit you people pull off…it drives me up a wall!"

Vaike caught the thief's attention, and since he had nearly beheaded Gaius and then did a numbe on his gonads, he would be the next to face Gaius' wrath. "Like you, Vaike!" Gaius pointed at Vaike, who was completely dumbfounded by what was going on. "Can't ever use first person, can you?! Always got to refer to yourself as 'the Vaike' or 'Teach'! Always gotta bolster that planet of an ego you got in there! It's annoying as hell, Vaike – oh, and a little tip. WATCH WHERE YOU AIM YOUR DAMN AXE!"

He had nothing else to say to Vaike, so Gaius began eyeing out Henry, and when he did, he let loose on the mage. "Junior, Junior, Junior…what an enigma you are! Oh, how you try your damndest to help us out, but how you fail to comprehend basic common sense! You know what could do, at the very least? YOU COULD INFORM SOMEONE BEFORE YOU MAKE THEIR INSIDES FEEL LIKE THE FIRES OF HELL!"

For once, Henry did not smile. He instead glared at Gaius, and Brady ran to his father, desperate to stop him from lashing out anymore – before Henry decided to show him his true power.

"Hey, father! You gotta calm down! Forgive me, but you're being kind of a –"

"Can it, Brady! I'm not in the mood!" Gaius looked around before he found Sumia, staring at him just with the same baffled expression the rest of the Shepherds bore. "And you, Stumbles – one would think that with how clumsy and ditzy you are, you really would've learned to watch where the hell you're going! Trust me, it's really something you need to work on!"

Sumia's eyes widened, as was hurt by Gaius' remark, and if ever there was death glare, Cordelia was sporting it to Gaius. She was about to say something to the theif, but right before she could even open her mouth, Gaius returned his attention to Stahl, who slowly backed away as Gaius stepped closer and closer.

"You! I just…I just…*groans*…..why did you have to…." What little rage was left in Gaius vanished as he let it all out with a punch to Stahl's jaw, sending the knight down to the ground.

As he breathed heavily, regret began to color his face. It sank in just what an ass he had made of himself. The damage was all done – most of the Shepherds' face of bafflement turned to that of contempt and distaste. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't blame them.

Chrom and Frederick stormed up to the thief, the former looking quite enraged at his soldier.

"Outside, now!" Gaius didn't object to Chrom's words. He knew he had just ruined the last night of the Shepherds.


	4. Black Tongue

Flavia and Tiki watched as Chrom and Frederick led Gaius out of the mess tent, with Flavia giving out a half-hearted chuckle.

"Wow, talk about making an ass of yourself" Flavia murmured to Tiki.

"Trust me, Flavia...I've seen enough people like that to last me a lifetime"

Stahl groaned as he laid there on the floor, and Lon'qu went to help his fellow brunet up while Lissa and Owain went rushing towards their loved one.

"Father, are you alright?" Owain said with a look of concern on his face.

Stahl rubbed his cheek, feeling the bruise Gaius had left on his face. "Yeah, Owain…I'm fine"

Lucina and Robin also rushed up to Stahl, the latter still looking dumbfounded. Such an outburst was uncharacteristic of Gaius, so everyone was still in shock, but Robin was left wondering if he had missed out on anything during his few days away. He eyed around the mess tent for Maribelle, hoping that she could clue him on what Gaius had gone through. He finally saw her just…standing there. Whatever emotions she was feeling about this whole situation, she wasn't showing any of it. Given her blank expression, Robin felt it was best not to ask her about it. Lissa, however, felt more comfortable about asking her friend.

"Maribelle, dear…what happened? Why did he just explode like that?" Lissa was further worried when Maribelle continued to stand there. Robin was growing concerned, too, so he walked up and glanced down at the troubadour.

"Maribelle?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Maribelle only sighed and walked away. Lissa couldn't remember the last time she saw Maribelle like this, if ever. Lissa had no idea if she could try to talk to Maribelle about if, or if she should just leave her alone. It didn't seem like Maribelle was in a chatty mood either way.

Stahl placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, with a look of regret on his face. He had no idea what else Gaius had suffered through today, but he was blaming himself for setting Gaius off like that. He let out a deep sigh.

"Lissa, I'm…I'm sorry for all of that…"

Lissa was befuddled by her husband's words, feeling that Stahl was in no position to apologize. "Stahl, honey….okay. Don't just eat someone else's food like that. It's quite rude. But on the other hand, Gaius took it way out of proportion. He didn't need to make a scene and lash out at his comrades like that"

Stahl couldn't help but sigh again. He still had no idea what to make of the whole situation. He walked around the mess tent, hearing everyone discuss and murmur about Gaius' outburst. He overheard Vaike and Donnel's words about it.

"Is my ego really that bad?" Vaike asked Donnel, and the shorter man pulled on his own shirt, unsure of how to answer the warrior's question.

"Erm…ya, yer ego can be something, but Gaius' rant…that sure was something, too"

"I said one thing to the guy! One. Thing! I was just giving him a hard time…"

Henry passed by Stahl, and Stahl looked at him with relief. When Gaius began lashing out at the dark mage, Stahl was growing worried that Gaius was awakening a demon – that Henry would flip out himself and just kill Gaius right then and there. He wondered what kept Henry from doing so, but his attention was quickly taken away when he saw Cordelia and Sumia discussing the matter – Sumia still looking hurt.

"He was right, Cordelia…" Sumia said with a solemn and saddened tone, something Cordelia would be having none of. "I should've learned how to deal with my klutziness by now. I can be so stupid sometimes"

"Hey now, dear" Cordelia placed her hand on Sumia's cheek. "Don't let him get to you like that. You're not stupid. And I've said it before – I'll always be here to help you out."

Sumia looked up into her wife's eyes with a big smile. Cordelia leaned down to give Sumia a warm kiss, which Sumia found delightful.

Stahl took a seat at the table and sighed once more. He began to really wonder what tomorrow's celebrations would be like for Gaius and Maribelle. The sheer joy and cheers from the citizens would make everyone else forget about the outburst, if only for a day, but he couldn't help but feel that Gaius and Maribelle were going to have an awkward, highly uncomfortable time.

* * *

Gaius rubbed his neck as Chrom stared at him with exasperation on his face.

"Well?" the Captain asked, his tone a combination of irritation and befuddlement. "What do you have to say for yourself, Gaius? What…what was that?!"

Gaius let out a deep breath as he prepared to enlighten Chrom on how his day had gone. "Well, Blue…I woke up late and felt completely out of it all day. Then I slipped in mud and lost half my candy, and then Vaike misaimed his axe and almost took my damn head off. Oh, and then he got me right in the gonads with said axe. Henry gave me a curse to help relieve the pain, but made me feel like I was burning alive. Maribelle and I…we were just fighting today, and Sumia just tripped and flung her pie at me. And then Stahl at the rest of my candy."

Chrom let out a single 'hm' while Frederick continued to sport a death glare at the thief. "To be fair, Gaius, it seems like you could've had a better day….but that is no excuse for your outburst!"

"Look, Blue, I know I overreacted, but you go through all of that and try to keep your act together!"

Chrom groaned in contempt. "I'm sure I would've gotten quite irritated myself. But Gaius, you didn't need to make a scene like that. You didn't need to lash out at everyone like that, and you certainly didn't need to deck Stahl like that!"

Frederick decided to pipe in. "I would like to add that, for all of Stahl's scatterbrained gaffes, he technically a prince, Gaius. You assaulted royalty – a most heinous crime. Do you know how long we could have you imprisoned for that?" Gaius could only gulp at the thought.

"But we won't do anything" Chrom clarified, to Gaius' relief. "I'm in too good a mood over Robin's return. Oh, and that's what pours salt in the wound, Gaius. You ruined our celebration of Robin coming back us! This would've been bad on any other day, but you had to snap when one of the greatest and most wonderful people to ever live comes back so soon!"

Frederick looked down and shook his head. "Gaius, you been a valuable soldier, and it seemed like you were a decent man as well, if morally ambiguous. It's disappointing to see that I was wrong." Frederick went back into the tent to be with Tharja while Chrom stayed, continuing to glare at Gaius.

"I feel the same way, Gaius. I know you do some dirty jobs and activities, but I thought you were a collected, reasonable man. Just…do me a favor…no, do us all a favor and lay as low as you can for tomorrow's celebrations. Hell, if you don't want to go…I don't think anyone will stop you"

Chrom went back into the mess tent, leaving Gaius alone outside. He had opened to mouth to reply the future Exalt, but he choose against saying anything, realizing that nothing he said would change Chrom's current outlook.

As he sat down right by the mess tent, Kellam and Sully left to go to their own tent. Both took quick glances at Gaius, looking at the thief with that same look of contempt – though he did not notice Kellam's expression. He sat there and he sighed, dreading what tomorrow would have in store for him.

After a minute of sitting there, Maribelle, Brady, and Owain all left the tent, and Gaius decided to make a last-ditch effort to patch things up. "Twinkles…"

"Don't. Even." Maribelle was far from being the mood to want anything to do with her husband. "Gaius…I am so mad that I can't even bring myself to scream at you. I will figure out what to do with you tomorrow. Tonight, though, you will be sleeping outside. Don't even bother arguing with me on that"

Maribelle walked away before Gaius could even get the chance to retort – though once again, he realized how futile it would be to say anything. Brady stepped closer to his dad, also baffled at his behavior. "Father…ya think you had it bad today? Did you forget where we all came from, what we all suffered through?!"

Gaius could understand Chrom, Frederick, and Maribelle's reactions, but he felt his son was pushing it. "Okay, Brady, that is not a fair comparison"

"I'm just saying, father….it coulda been worse. Life can be cruel." Brady turned away from his father and walked away with Owain, who had some words for his friend.

"Man, Brady…our fathers were never close in the original timeline, but here….man…"

"I'm just worried for my parents – Ma is so angry with father right now. I really don't know what the future holds for them…"

Gaius didn't hear any more of their conversation, and he didn't want to. He sat back in his spot for a few minutes, just wanting this time to be alone. He wanted to be at peace for just a short time, without worrying about what the next few days with Maribelle would be like. His attempts were interrupted when he saw Lon'qu, Cherche, Libra, and Tharja all exit the mess tent. As he expected, Lon'qu and Cherche simply glared at Gaius before leaving to rest in their own tent. Libra didn't look happy with Gaius, either, but he walked up to the thief. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gaius already had a good idea of what it was.

"Don't tell me, Padre. You found my actions and choices questionable, but you thought I was better than this, and now you're disappointed"

Libra was stunned that Gaius just about took the words out of his mouth, and he really had little to say now. "Erm…yeah. I really did expect better from you, Gaius" With that, the priest walked away to pray in his tent before resting. With Libra gone, it was Tharja's turn to voice her opinion on the matter.

"I just want to say, Gaius…I'm glad you called out Vaike and Sumia. Henry is…interesting, but Vaike and Sumia are annoying, stupid oafs. And if I were you, I would've taken out Sumia and not Stahl"

Gaius scoffed at that last part. "And evoke the wrath of Cordelia? No thank you" Gaius let out a deep sigh. "Tharja…could you just leave me be?"

Tharja let out an 'hm' before going back into the mess tent, leaving Gaius alone. He sat there and breathed heavily, still trying to be at peace for just a short bit.

* * *

It took a while, but eventually, the Shepherds stopped talking about Gaius' outburst and things went back to normal. There were not many people left in the mess tent, as most of the army had retired for the night. Stahl himself was beginning to get tired himself, so he decided that after these next two plates of bear meat, he would go to his tent for some rest.

His wife approached him, also looking very tired. "Alright, babe, I'm gonna go to our tent. Don't eat any more food after that! …But I hope you're feeling better."

"Thanks, Lissa" Lissa gave Stahl a kiss on the cheek before leaving the mess tent, leaving Stahl to finish off his bear meat. He really did want to eat more food, but besides being tired, Stahl didn't want to eat too much today – he figured that at the celebrations tomorrow, the food would be overwhelming in quantity and taste. He felt he was going to eat so much food that he might actually gain weight for once.

It didn't take long for him to eat his bear meat – it never took him long to finish any meal. Right after he did, he put his plate aside and departed the mess tent, with Cordelia and Sumia leaving at the same time.  
"Hey, Stahl!" Sumia dashed to Stahl and looked up at him with concern. "You're doing alright, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I am. Thanks. Are you alright, Sumia?"

"Yeah, I am" Sumia replied, and Stahl was glad to hear that. There was silence between the three for about a minute as they walked towards their tents, before Stahl remembered the remark he had made about pegasi earlier.

"Hey, um, you two still aren't mad about earlier, are you?"

Both Cordelia and Sumia were unsure of what Stahl was talking about, and Cordelia would be the one to voice her confusion. "What are you talking about, Stahl?"

"You know…my comment about pegasi?"

Cordelia let out an 'ah' as she recollected the events from earlier that day. "No, you're fine"

"Yeah, Stahl, it's alright!" Sumia added on. "But um…please don't actually eat a Pegasus"

Cordelia chuckled and patted Sumia on the shoulder as the two reached their tent. Stahl and Lissa's tent was only five tents away, and he yawned as he anticipated his forthcoming sleep. But he took a look at the woods next to their campsite, and something caught his eye: He couldn't exactly tell from this distance, but he could swear it was a man dressed in black.

He had no idea who this person could be. He suspected it could be a citizen from Ylisstol, but Ylisse was a few hours away. Who was this person, and what they were doing so close to the Shepherds' campsite. Stahl didn't think it could be anything too bad, but he decided it wouldn't hurt to investigate. He walked past his tent, and by Gaius, who was trying to sleep on the grass. Gaius was puzzled, wondering what had Stahl's attention. It was then that he too noticed the man, and since he was already going to be outside all night, he decided it wouldn't hurt to check the man out as well.

The man stopped and turned his back to the woods, thankfully facing the opposite direction from Stahl and Gaius, who stopped about a hundred feet away from the man. It was here that they could get in a few more details – he was only wearing a black robe, and though he was wearing a hood, the two could just barely see that he had long chalk white hair. The hooded man stood there. All that could be heard was the hooting of the owls from the forest. Stahl and Gaius looked at each other, still being as quiet as humanly possible.

"What...what is he doing?" Stahl whispered.

Gaius was baffled that Stahl would ask him that. "Now how hell would I know?'

Then the hooded man opened his book and began to chant.

Neither Stahl or Gaius could understand what the man was saying. It did sound like any dialect they had ever heard. They weren't sure if they were even capable of speaking like that. The man sounded like a demon right out of hell. His voice was ominous and booming, and it carried a sense of dread.

He got louder and louder as he continued to chant. Stahl and Gaius both wanted to speak up, but they felt that such an action would be a poor choice. The hooded man's voice got more and more distorted as he continued on. It sounded like several horrible, ghastly voices coming out of the same person. Stahl and Gaius were both getting unnerved by the hooded man, and they prepared themselves to fight this man – whatever he was planning, there was little chance that it could be good.

Then of a sudden, the man stopped chanting. And then he, Stahl, and Gaius were all engulfed in a strange white light.


	5. A Village in Flames

Stahl groaned loudly as he got up.

He saw Gaius still lying down in the grass, and Stahl placed his hand on his head, baffled as to what happened. He was suspecting that the white light seemingly caused by the hooded man's chanting had knocked him and Gaius out, but some things weren't adding up. It was nighttime, as it had been right before they saw the hooded man, but the land before them looked very different. The lush forest that had neared the campsite was replaced with a desolate wasteland of barren trees. This forest did not sound off life and wonder, but rather ruin and despair.

The dark, bleak forest did not have Stahl's attention for long. He could see an ominous orange glow from the corner of eye, and when he turned around to investigate, he was horrified at what laid before his eyes.

It was a village. A village burning to the ground.

Gaius moaned – not as loudly as Stahl – as he got up from the ground, and his eyes widened when the village saw.

"Munches? Where the hell are we?" he asked, just as confused as to what was going on as Stahl.

"I…I…" Stahl had no idea what to say as the sight of the village sunk in. He could see a plethora of bodies on the village ground, some burnt from the fire. What struck him odd about the non-burnt bodies was the grey tone of their skin. It was unlikely these people could've been dead for that long, so to see this gray flesh gave Stahl the chill. But then a few people began fleeing from the village in Stahl and Gaius' direction – bearing the same grey skin as the corpses. Stahl didn't think he could've gotten any more confused by all of this, but he was wrong.

He and Gaius slowly backed away, preparing to flee from this chaos. But Stahl's attention was taken by the sight of a building collapsing in the distance, trapping three young men and an older woman in. Instantly, Stahl rushed into the village to aid the people, though his sudden departure befuddled Gaius.

"You're going into the burning village? Are you out of your mind?!"

Stahl ignored Gaius' remark and continued to run towards the collapsed building. Gaius was unaware of the people trapped inside the burning the building – as far as he was knew, this was suicide. Before he could think of what he would do, however, he heard footsteps coming from behind.

He turned around to see a large of group of men and women marching menacingly towards the burning village. The general aesthetic of their outfits were very similar to that of Ylisse's soldiers, but the color scheme was completely off. Instead of wearing blue clothing with gray armor and brown gloves and boots, they wore red clothing with golden armor and black gloves and boots. From the looks of their faces, they also bore the same grey skin as the villlagers. And many of their lances were stained with blood – no doubt from the villagers who had tried to escape.

Not all of them bore lances, however – some wielded bows and arrows. And two of the bowmen began to shoot arrows at Gaius, causing him to panic as he ran as swiftly and quickly as possible in a desperate attempt to avoid the arrows. Between whoever these people were, and the village burning to the ground, Gaius was truly between a rock and a hard place.

* * *

When Stahl got the burning building, he looked up and down, trying to figure out a way to free the three people trapped within. He looked up and down, and left and right, trying to figure out a way to free the men and woman.

He tried to focus on how to free them, but he couldn't help but the notice the armored men and women all around. He had so many questions as to what was going on, but one thing was clear – whoever these people were, they were destroying the village. They were slaughtering the villagers and setting the buildings on fire.

His attention was suddenly grabbed by one of the villagers wielding a single-bladed axe, charging towards one of the armored men. The man was not intimated, and Stahl could see why, for the man simply impaled the villager in the chest with his lance, killing him instantly,

Stahl saw an opportunity here. All the other members of this group were preoccupied with slaying the people and hadn't noticed Stahl, so he could get this one's attention without attracting theirs. He ran towards the man, and since he did not have any weapons on him, he simply decked the man in the face. Luckily, since he was still plaid in his green armor, his armored hand was enough to knock the man unconscious.

Stahl grabbed the axe and ran back the collapsed building. With the axe, he struck at the burnt wood with all his strength, until he created an opening large enough for the three people.

"Go on! Get out!"

The two men and the woman all dashed out of the building, though they were careful to avoid the flames. For a moment, Stahl was simply content and happy to have saved at least a few lives in this chaos. Unfortunately for him, the confusion was about to pile on.

"Well, well, well, look who's trying to play hero"

Stahl turned around to see that it was one of the people destroying the village, but what really caught his attention was the man's voice. It sounded terribly, unbearably familiar. He recognized it, but…he didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be him…

"Ooh my, tan skin. You must be a noble who betrayed the Archanean Empire. Everyone knows how the Queen feels about traitors"

There were so many things about that sentence that left Stahl completely baffled. First off…while Queen Olivia would most likely not appreciate people betraying the good country of Ylisse, she never spoke about them in such a way that she would be infamous for it. Secondly…the Archanean Empire. Stahl immediately figured out why that sounded remotely familiar. Archanea was the previous name of the continent – around the time of Marth, the Hero King. It was changed to 'Ylisse' around the time of the first Exalt a thousand years ago.

Stahl also took notice of the man's short stature, and realized it matched…no. It couldn't be, Stahl thought. It just couldn't. It also clicked to him that this man

He had little time to process all of this, and his brief thoughts were interrupted when the man brought him back to reality by charging at him with his lance. Stahl was quick to dodge the lance and swung at the man with his axe. The man just barely avoided the axe, but Stahl was able to knock his hat off, and then as the man got back up…Stahl could no longer deny it.

His skin was grey, his hair was dark purple, and he talked differently…but it was clearly him. Stahl's eyes widened in complete disbelief.

"Donnel…"

Donnel's eyebrows raised. "How…how do you know my name?"

"Donnel, what is going on, who are you with, and why are you doing this?!"

All Stahl got was completely dumbfounded look from Donnel, who had no idea what he was talking about. "Did you lose your damn brain somewhere? We're purging this great land from all the Insurrection sympathizers – even this tiny village must burn!"

Given the way Donnel had worded some things, and how closely the aesthetic of their outfits matched Ylisse's soldiers…the people burning this village to the ground were soldiers. Wherever he was, whatever the hooded man did, there was no way Chrom and Olivia could be the Exalt and Queen anymore. They wouldn't allow this. Well, at least not the Chrom and Olivia that Stahl knew – it's possibly that whatever happened had corrupted them like it seemed to with Donnel.

"It pains me to fight you, Donnel" Stahl solemnly said, and his face did indeed looked pained. Even though this Donnel evidently led a different life and had a different personality, he still bore the face of one of Stahl's closest friends.

Donnel only snickered at the remark. "How weak. I love myself a good battle!" Stahl noted how this Donnel seemed to relish in combat, as it stood in contrast to how his Donnel was giving up combat after the war with Grima.

Donnel charged at Stahl again, letting out a ferocious war cry as he did so. Just like last time, Stahl dodged the attack – only this time, he didn't swing the axe at Donnel's face. He just couldn't bring himself to. Instead, he swung down at Donnel's lance and broke off a good chunk of it, to Donnel's anger. Donnel kicked Stahl down the ground, causing him to drop his axe, and put his foot on the green-clad man's stomach. H grinned as he turned the remaining part of his lance around, ready to impale Stahl in the face with it.

The axe was right next to Stahl, though, and he swiftly grabbed it. He didn't want to do what he was about to do, but he felt he didn't have a choice. He aimed the axe and stabbed Donnel's left foot with it. Donnel got off Stahl and screamed in absolute pain, and Stahl used the opportunity to grab him by the neck. He damned himself for it, but he still could not bring himself to kill Donnel. Instead, he punched Donnel in the face, knocking him out as he had done with the other soldier.

Stahl took a very brief moment to breathe before looking for any kind of cover from the other soldiers. His encounter with Donnel increased his confusion tenfold, and there were so many thoughts racing through his head – the most prevalent one being…what did the hooded man do? Stahl wasn't sure that it was him, but given the timing of the events, he was convinced that the hooded man did something to change how the entire world went round.

* * *

Gaius didn't want to go into the village, but the surrounding soldiers forced him into the burning dwellings. He was breathing quite heavily – he had left his sword in his tent, and the campsite was nowhere to be found. There was no sign that Maribelle, Brady, or any of the other Shepherds had ever been here. Stahl was the only other one here, it seemed – much to his dismay. Even though he felt bad about the incident at mess tent, he was never that fond of the green-clad prince.

The cries of a young boy could be heard, and Gaius turned his head to the left to see a blonde-haired child who couldn't have been older than ten, with one of the soldiers chasing him from behind. The child tripped and slid onto the ground, and the soldier took advantage of this and aimed his lance down.

All Gaius could do was turn his head, though he could still hear it.

The soldier charged towards Gaius, but the thief noticed a plank of wood that not been burnt yet. He grabbed it and struck the soldier as hard as he could with it. The soldier fell down to the ground, and Gaius immediately took his neck and snapped it, before stealing his lance. He had never used a lance before, and didn't know well he'd do with it, but he had no other weapons available to him at the moment.

"For the Queen! For the Archanean Empire!"

Upon hearing that, Gaius looked for cover, and hid behind several burnt crates and barrels. He peaked his head up, and saw an absolutely hulking and towering man discussing matters with the other soldiers, who were dwarfed by his stature.

It was Kellam.

Even though he also bore the same grey skin, Gaius could tell it was him from his facial structure. Kellam was now wearing armor exactly like the one Stahl was wearing – the main difference being that Kellam's armor was a heavily muted shade of purple. What really puzzled Gaius was why Kellam was working with these people. He was no closer to Kellam than he was to Stahl, but the knight always seemed kind and brave. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

A woman clad in black and gray armor approached Kellam, and Gaius was stunned to see that it was none other than Captain Phila. This made him so much more baffled – Captain Phila had been dead for over two years. And yet there she was, her hair a much darker shade of blue. How did she come back, and why were she and Kellam helping to destroy the village?

"The village has been completely decimated, just as the Queen demanded" Kellam said, his tone unnervingly cold-hearted. "Most of the villagers have been slaughtered, but some have managed to flee into the woods"

Phila let out a sigh. "The Queen specifically demanded that there be no survivors. Find them all!"

"Yes, Lieutenant Phila" Kellam then grumbled something under his breath, though Gaius could not make it out. Captain – nay, Lieutenant Phila raised her lance up in the air.

"For the Queen! For the Archanean Empire!"

The soldiers raised their lances and let out of the same war cry, before scattering around to search for any more villagers. Gaius saw Stahl and three of the villagers fleeing the village for the woods and, completely unsure of what to do, followed in their direction.

Soldiers began chasing after the group of five, and it was a lengthy chase that left Stahl and Gaiu's hearts pounding as they tried desperately to evade the soldiers. After a few minutes, the five could not see any soldiers in sight, and concluded that they had finally lost them. They all stopped to catch their breath, and Stahl and Gaius had so many questions.

"What…*pant* *pant* the hell was that?!" Gaius asked in an exasperated tone.

"I don't know!" Stahl replied as he began panting himself. "They claimed to be the Archanean Empire, and Donnel's with them.

"So are Kellam and Phila. They seemed to be in charge of destroying the village, too"

"Kellam, too?! And wait, Phila?! What…what in the name of the gods…"

After a moment, they realized that the three villagers who had fled with them were staring at the two. The villagers' mouths gaped, completely dumbfounded by what Stahl and Gaius were talking about.

Stahl let out an 'ooh' when he realized how crazy they sounded and began stuttering as he struggled to find a plausible explanation. Gaius simply stared at Stahl and his attempts before deciding to clarify himself. "Look, it's a long and confusing story. You'd think us insane if we told you."

The villagers simply shrugged and brushed it off, not wanting to ponder it any further. The middle-aged man among them spoke. "You know, I've heard Sumia is roaming in these woods…"

Both Stahl and Gaius' eyes widened at the name 'Sumia', and Stahl would be the one to voice his surprise. "…Sumia?"

"You forgot about Sumia?" the blonde woman among the villagers asked, raising an eyebrow as she did so. "The escaped slave of the royal palace. She's been seen in this forest"

Stahl turned his head to Gaius, who wasn't as convinced. "Munches, it's a big world. There's probably more than one Sumia out there…"

"But you never know. Besides, um…I saw Donnel and you saw Kellam and Phila, so I don't know, it's just…we should just find her and see what's up. We have no idea where we are or what's going on, after all…"

Gaius simply groaned. "Fine"

Stahl and Gaius departed from the trio of villagers, but they were able to hear the red-headed man. "Watch out for them firewalkers out there!"

Firewalkers? There were only more questions being raised about what the hooded man to cause all of this. Stahl and Gaius hoped that they could find Sumia as soon as possible, and see what the story was with her – and if she could provide any insight on what was going on…


	6. Darkened Soul

Awkwardness colored the mood as Stahl and Gaius searched for Sumia. Stahl really had nothing to say to Gaius, because he couldn't look at the orange-haired man without thinking of the incident at the mess tent. Granted, he shouldn't have eaten all of someone else's food like that, but what Gaius did…it left a bad taste in Stahl's mouth. Gaius had nothing to say to Stahl, either – he always suspected the prince had hidden motives for acting so nice, an act Gaius refused to buy into. They exchanged occasional glances at each other, but that was it.

They wandered through the twisted forest for who knows how long until they have stumbled upon a woman. Gaius wordlessly signaled for Stahl to stop and hide underneath the trunk. This woman did not notice them arriving and their back was turned from them, when she heard the sound of strangers arrived, she turned to see who it was... And they found out it was Sumia.

This Sumia was clad in dark grey, and she bore the same grey skin as everyone else they had encountered so far. It was hard to tell from the distance Stahl and Gaius were at, but this Sumia was also a tad thinner than her counterpart. What stuck out in her appearance, though, was the scars. She bore six scars across her face, and one down on her neck. She also bore on her face a look of rage and coldness neither thought Sumia was even capable of expressing.

Sumia had yet to notice Stahl and Gaius. They were ducking under some bushes, and her attention was on something else – Archanean soldiers. There were three of them, and they all looked like bloody messes. One of them even began coughing blood as he tried to get up, using all his might to do so.

Sumia narrowed her eyes and walked to the soldier. She grabbed the man's arm and twisted it, and the soldier screamed in agony as his arm broke. She then grabbed her lance from the dirt and gripped tightly as she impaled the soldier, watching him die.

She turned around see one of the other soldiers down on the ground. She observed him, and noticed that his chest was moving. The soldier was playing dead so that Sumia would leave and he could escape with his life. Sumia approached the soldier and impaled him in the chest.

The final soldier got up and tried to run, but he couldn't - Sumia had stabbed him in the leg earlier. Sumia walked up to him menacingly as he panicked.

"No, no! Please! I promise I won't tell the Queen! Just let me live!"

She ignored his pleas for life as she grabbed him by his head and began bashing him into a nearby tree, knocking a good chunk of his teeth out.

"Please…" the soldier said in a very weak tone.

She only scoffed as he begged for mercy before impaling him in the chest. The dead soldier fell to the ground, and Sumia only let out an 'hmm'.

Stahl and Gaius were taken completely aback by what they had just seen. Stahl in particular felt very unnerved by Sumia and her newfound coldness – he was beginning to regret the effort he put into finding her. With his widened eyes, he turned to face Gaius.

"Um…maybe we should just…go…" Stahl whispered to Gaius in a nervous tone. "I just don't think she'll be of any –"

"Who the hell are you two?"

Gaius had also turned his head to face Stahl, but both felt they should have heard Sumia sneaking up on them. But there she was, glaring at the prince and the thief. That's one thing they had to give her – stealth was something their Sumia could never hope to master.

Stahl gulped. "Uh, well…"

Stahl had no idea what he was going to say, and Sumia wasn't going to give him the chance to say anything as she unleashed a swift kick towards Gaius' face, sending him towards the ground.

"Whoa, whoa! Sumia, give us the chance to –"

As before, Sumia interrupted him before he could finish. She gripped tightly onto her lance and aimed towards the big shoulder plates on Stahl's armor, undoing both of them. Stahl stared in shock as clanks could be heard, wondering how Sumia managed to do that.

"You know what? I don't care who you two are. Nobles disgust me…"

Stahl's expression turned from shock to frustration at once again being mistaken for a noble. "Okay, why do you think we're nobles? Trust me – neither of us belong to nobility!"

Sumia only scoffed and rolled her eyes in response. "Hey dumbass, I can see that your skin is tan!"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

Though Stahl couldn't tell, Sumia was confused. This green-clad man sounded…genuine. But she had met better liars before – these two weren't going to fool her.

Sumia proceeded to strike against Stahl again and again, and all Stahl could do was dodge. He was trying to hammer it in that this was not the Sumia he knew so that he could muster the ability to use the axe he had taken from the village to fight back.

"Whoa, whoa!" Gaius got up, rubbing his reddened and bruised cheek. He had already thought of something to get Sumia to stop attacking the pair. "Forgive my...associate, there…we are indeed nobles."

Stahl raised an eyebrow, and Gaius shot a glare towards him, indicating to Stahl that he should shut up and let Gaius handle this.

"We have grown tired of the Queen, and of nobility. We want to live a simple life, Stum….Sumia. Wait, forgive us! You are Sumia, the escaped slave of the royal palace, correct? We apologize if you are not."

Now Sumia was the one to raise an eyebrow, but it seemed that she believed Gaius' story so far. "Yes…that would be me. Why have you two come for me?"

Gaius began making motions with his hands as he spoke. "Well, my associate and I just barely escaped a village that got burned to the ground by the Archanean Empire. And we don't know our way around here, and we've heard about your skills…we were hoping you could take us to the nearest village. And help out in case the Archanean Empire finds the two of us…"

Sumia cupped her chin. "Hmm…fine. Though why hide those spines of yours away? If you have issues with the Queen and the Empire, join the Insurrection and help do something about this. But know this: I will be the one to kill Queen Cordelia"

Both Stahl and Gaius were silent for a bit as they tried to let that sink in. First off, the idea that Cordelia could be the tyrannical ruler that ordered the destruction of what was but a village left their mouths agape. Secondly….what could she have done to make Sumia of all people want to kill her so badly.

"Cordelia…Queen….Cordelia…?" Stahl whispered to himself as he pondered the thought, though Sumia was able to hear it. She was confused by Stahl and Gaius' reactions, and Gaius could see it. Before he could think of anything to explain it away, Sumia spoke.

"Yes, although one of you two could kill King Basilio if you so wish. And I must say, I can't wait to meet Captain Henry of the Insurrection"

Stahl felt like he was running out of the air. The thought that Basilio could be the King alongside Cordelia, and that Henry could lead a resistance, left him in nothing but disbelief. "Um…yeah. I actually got some beef with King Basilio myself. And man, Henry seems like a great guy."

"The King's name is Frederick, and it's Captain Libra, not Henry"

Stahl could only let out an 'ooh' and Gaius himself gulped. Sumia knew he hadn't told the truth, and neither knew how she would react. Before they knew it, Sumia aimed her lance towards Gaius, its point only one or two inches away from his throat. "Now, I'm going to ask again, and you better be honest this time. Who. The Hell. Are You Two?!"

Gaius began to sweat as he tried to think of something, anything to say. It wasn't long before Stahl threw his arms up and groaned.

"Alright, alright, we'll tell you the truth!"

Sumia moved her lance away from Gaius, and relieved of not having a weapon by his throat anymore, Gaius began to motion his hands again – this time, he was trying to stop Stahl from telling the truth. "Munches, no! She'll think we're –"

"What have we got to lose, Gaius? Really, what do we have to lose from just being honest?!"

Gaius paused for a moment and sighed. Sensing that he would not be interrupted, Stahl began to tell Sumia their story.

"Look, this might sound hard to believe, but we're not from here. We're not from this world, I mean. We come from another world entirely. No…we come from another timeline. And we have no idea how or why, but our timeline is gone now. And this timeline has taken its place."

Sumia stood silent. She had no immediate response to that. She only seemed to ponder the thought. Gaius thought she would think them insane and decide to kill them and put them out of their misery. Though she was not reacting the way he thought she would – not yet, at least – he still didn't think Sumia would believe them.

He approached Stahl, not happy with the green-clad man. "You realize she's going to think we're crazy?"

"Well, sorry, but it didn't seem like you were coming up with anything new"

"If you had given me time, Munches, I would've come up with something"

"And then she probably would've seen through that lie, too! I'm just saying, we might as well tell her what's up –"

"Quiet!" Sumia yelled, startling both Stahl and Gaius. Sumia narrowed her eyes at the two before going back to thinking. She was silent for a few more seconds before she finally spoke. "A story like that would normally sound completely insane, but here it sounds oddly…cogent"

That was not a response Gaius was expecting, and he let his surprise show. "…Come again?"

"It explains why neither of you two know of the royal family or of the leader of the Insurrection. Even people in the most remote parts of the continent know their names. Add in your ignorance of how much better nobility really has it…it oddly makes sense"

"…Huh." Gaius was too stunned to see Sumia put it all together like that to say anything else at the moment. Stahl, on the other hand, was relieved that she believed them. "Great! So before we go, I have but one question…where we come from, nobody had this grey skin. What's the story behind that?"

Sumia sighed before enlightening them. "That's what generations upon generations of eating firewalker flesh does for you. Only the royal family and nobles can afford to regularly eat normal animal flesh."

"Right…" Stahl scratched his head as he saw a regular buck not too far from where the three were standing. "And what are…firewalkers?"

Sumia wondered where Stahl's attention was at and turned her own eyes to face the buck. She had a look of suspicion on her face. It wasn't long before Stahl and Gaius understood why as more deer showed up – but these deer looked very different. They had grey skin, with many of the deer having bald patches in various spots, and their eyes were colored a bloodshot red. They furiously charged towards the buck and attacked it viciously, emitting vivid red fire as they did so. It was only a short time before they killed the buck, and Stahl and Gaius' jaws dropped - particularly when it looked like those deer were beginning to eat the buck.

"…Those are firewalkers."

Now Stahl was the one who had no words. "Uh-huh…."

"They were corrupted and driven mad by exposure to dark magic during the thousand year reign of Medeus."

Stahl and Gaius both turned to face Sumia. Both knew who Medeus was – he was the Shadow Dragon, the one slain by the Hero King Marth all those millennia ago. In their timeline, at least – evidently, that did not happen here. Sumia saw the looks of bafflement on their faces and knew she had to explain. She looked back and forth across the forest, presumably to see if any Archanean soldiers were nearing, before turning her attention back to Stahl and Gaius.

"Do tell me…what do _you_ know about Medeus?"

Stahl cupped his chin "He was an Earth Dragon who tried to take over Archanea, but Prince Marth stopped him. Well, wait. He had been defeated by Marth's descendant beforehand, but then got resurrected by a sorcerer named Gharnef. But then Marth defeated him. Twice."

"…Well, here, Marth never stopped him. A mysterious hooded man showed up out of nowhere and killed Marth and several of his best comrades. Medeus decimated the rest of his army and took over Archanea, Valentia, and Judgral."

"That….that does not sound familiar…" Stahl said, unsure of how else he could put it.

"Medeus ruled for a thousand years, until Cordelia's ancestors finally finished him off for good. They took over Archanea, and…well, they were assholes. And that's why the world is what you see before you."

Gaius stood silent for a moment before clearing his throat. "Yes, um, thanks. We're a little…less lost now."

Sumia pointed her lance to the left of where they were all standing. "Nearest town is that way. We better get going"

Sumia began walking off, and Stahl and Gaius followed right behind her. And then it sank in for Stahl – Lissa did not exist anymore. Because of Marth's death, she, Chrom, and Emmeryn never existed. And Owain and Lucina could never exist. He felt deeply mixed on that. He was said that his wife and family had been undone…but he was also glad that this new reality couldn't twist them up like it did with Kellam and Donnel – and Sumia, to a lesser extent.

Stahl was glad that Sumia wasn't as bad as his two closest friends, but he was still taken aback by her. In spite of their Sumia's worrying low self-esteem, she always managed to have a cheerful and endearing spirit to her, while this Sumia only carried off a cold and ruthless energy to her. Gaius was similarly jarred – but deep down, he was also glad that this Sumia, so far, had none of the traits that made her counterpart so aggravating sometimes.

Not long after they departed, Sumia turned her head to face the two.

"I was wondering…it seems that you know me from the other timeline"

"Uh…yeah. We knew you in the other timeline. And, well, if Queen Cordelia is really tall with red hair and eyes, chances are, we knew her counterpart as well. But where we came from, you two were…different. Quite different."

"Hmmm…I would actually like to know what lives we lived once we get to town."

Stahl thought he had the next few days figured out. He simply thought that he would go to the celebrations in Ylisstol with the rest of the Shepherds – and then, free from the pressures of war, he could finally and truly adjust to his new life as a prince. Gaius meanwhile, had no idea what the next days would hold for him after his outburst – but he never imagined it would've been this.

Both gulped to themselves as they dreaded the thought of what the future would throw at them next.


	7. Bustling Town

Two soldiers were sitting on horses – horses that bore the same patches and gray skin as the deer Stahl and Gaius saw – in the woods near a bustling town. One of them sighed, being incredibly bored with his duties.

"Does the Queen really think we need this many soldiers at a town?" he asked, placing his head on his hand as he did so.

The other soldier planted his hand on his face for a brief moment before turning his head to face his partner. "Yeah, Queen Cordelia is being extreme, but we can't let the Archanean Empire fall before Libra"

"I know, I know, Libra would bring ruin. But still…."

Meanwhile, from one of the trees, Stahl was sitting atop a branch, staring down at the two soldiers. With a look of determination on his face, he raised his axe – preparing to take out one of the soldiers.

He threw the axe, and just barely missed the soldier, hitting the horse instead. He was upset at having hurt the animal like that, but it did get the horse to throw the solider off and run into the woods.

The other soldier only yelled and tried to get his horse to go into town to get help. Just as his horse began to run, however, Sumia emerged from behind a tree and threw her lance at the horse – she was able to get the horse in the leg, sending it crashing towards the ground. The soldier fell of the horse and found himself rammed right into a tree.

The soldier whose horse had been struck with an axe tried to run into town, but Gaius dashed in front of him and decked him in the face. Gaius ripped the front part of the soldier's body armor off and impaled him with the lance he took from the village.

The other soldier was impaled in the leg by Sumia and fell to the ground. Sumia put her foot on his back and aimed her lance. Stahl and Gaius did not see her finish off the man, but they could hear it.

"Archanean scum" Sumia muttered to herself as she took a look at her bloodied lance, still letting her coldness exhibit itself. She looked at Stahl and Gaius and nodded.

"This way. The town's right over here." Stahl and Gaius followed Sumia, and within a few minutes they were right by civilization.

"Now, we need to lay very, very low." Sumia said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm one of the most wanted fugitives on the continent"

Gaius smirked. "Trust me, I know how to lay low" his smirk vanished when he turned his attention to Stahl. "But I don't know about Munches here."

Stahl let out an 'uh' and rubbed his neck. "…I'll manage"

The three walked into town, and while they got some stares from the citizens, no one was thinking anything of them.

Sumia stopped in her tracks, and not knowing what else to do, Stahl and Gaius stopped as well. Sumia turned around and looked up at the two men. "Alright, here's the deal. There's always a few abandoned houses in these towns or villages – the people who lived in them…well, they spoke out against the Empire and 'mysteriously' vanished" she did quotations with her fingers, and neither Stahl nor Gaius were too dumb to know what she was getting at. "I'll help you guys find one of those houses, so that you have _somewhere_ to stay."

Gaius only nodded, while Stahl replied "Shouldn't we get some food or something first? I haven't eaten in an eternity."

Gaius sighed and shook his head. He could have gone for some sweets himself, but he knew that the trio should worry about finding a place to hide first. Sumia let out a sigh of exasperation and would voice her disapproval.

"Look…'Munches'…we can worry about food later. A place to hide comes first and foremost!"

Stahl couldn't help but rub his neck again. "Erm, okay…" It was then he realized that Sumia didn't know his name. He had forgotten to introduce himself, and Gaius only called him 'Munches'. As Sumia and Gaius walked forward, Stahl raised his finger as he followed behind. "Although wait – my name is Stahl!"

As they continued on, Gaius looked around and raised an eyebrow. He remembered the comments those two soldiers had made – they indicated that Queen Cordelia had soldiers all around this town, but he couldn't see any. Even with how crowded this town was, he felt he should've seen _something_. Sumia was turning her head left and right – and from her body language, Gaius suspected that she was growing suspicious as well.

Then the crowds in front of them began to grow silent and move out of the way of…something. Sumia's eyes widened when she saw what it was, and she began pushing her way through the crowd. Unsure of what else to do, Stahl and Gaius followed. Stahl was able to get a glimpse of what was going on.

Archanean soliders were riding their way through town, and leading them was none other than Vaike and Cherche. Cherche donned a white version of the knight armor while Vaike wore a muted orange variation of the mage outfit. Stahl was surprised by Cherche's presence for another reason than a familiar person in an unfamiliar world – she had hailed from the continent of Valm. Well, Valentia as it was still called here. What was she doing in the Archanean army? What also got his attention was the look of sadness on Cherche's face as she looked around the town.

As Sumia, Stahl, and Gaius all got to the back of the crowd, the latter two were just tall enough to see that soldiers were coming from the other direction. It was Kellam and Phila – Donnel was nowhere to be seen, though given how Stahl had got him in the foot, he was most likely being tended to. Vaike and Cherche stopped directly in front of Kellam and Phila, and all four got off their horses to discuss some matters that Stahl and Gaius could not hear.

Sumia in particular did not care enough to see what was going on – she only continued to run. Gaius overcame his curiosity and followed right behind her, but Stahl was distracted by the sight of his 'friends'. He saw Lieutenant Phila pointing west, and Kellam, Cherche, and Vaike all got on their horses and headed in that direction, accompanied by 6 soldiers. He snapped back to reality and realized he was about to lose Gaius and Sumia – he could just see Gaius' orange hair and bandana in the distance and followed after.

It took a few minutes, but the prince did catch up to the slave and the thief. Gaius gave Stahl a quick but disapproving glance before Sumia stopped in her tracks. Gaius and Stahl stopped a well, and they soon saw what caught her attention: A house. A house with an eerie vibe to it. The horn that made up all the windows was torn up, and the door had been taken off from its hinges. She wordlessly signaled Stahl and Gaius to follow her as she went into the house.

They went in to find most of the furniture flipped over and broken down, a couple of blood splatters on the wall, and what appeared to be bear meat on the table. Sumia, in attempt to confirm the state of the house, went over to touch the meat.

"Cold. Very cold." She peaked her head around and continued to investigate the house before turning her attention to Stahl and Gaius. "Yeah, this place was definitely opposed by people who opposed the Queen. You two will be able to take up residence here for the time being."

Stahl took another look at the blood splatters. "…Great."

Sumia put her hand through her hair before looking at her spear. "Now, before I head off for the Insurrection…" she glanced back up to make eye contact with Stahl and Gaius. "…What was my counterpart like?"

Stahl raised his finger again to speak, but cut himself off before he could begin and looked in a random direction. "Erm, actually…can you tell us one more thing about this world?"

Sumia let out a deep sigh of exasperation and narrowed her eyes. "…Damnit, fine."

"What happened to Valentia in this world?"

Sumia cupped her chin. "History has…forgotten how this happened…but Valentia and Judgral sank into the ocean shortly after Medeus was overthrown. The survivors came here to Archanea. Why do you ask?"

Stahl only shrugged. "I recognized a Valentian, that's all" He then got ready to tell Sumia about the world he and Gaius came from, but before he could open his mouth to say anything, he heard a loud and worrying sound coming from outside.

He sprang out of the house and found an old lady. It looked like she had tripped onto the ground, and she had dropped two thankfully empty pots. Stahl rushed to the lady's aid.

"Here, let me help you" he helped the old lady up before grabbing her pots and giving them to her. The old lady expressed her gratitude to Stahl before walking away, humming as she did so.

Stahl's attention was stolen by a man who was struggling to carry some baskets of food, and took the chance to help someone else out as he walked up to the man.

"Sir, do you need some help with those?" he asked in a polite tone.

"Y-yes" the man replied, being a tad taken aback by Stahl's willingness to help. "I don't live too far from here, but a little help won't hurt"

Stahl got two of his baskets and followed the man to his house, while Gaius and Sumia only watched. Sumia in particular had a completely dumbfounded and bedazzled look on her face.

After a few minutes, Stahl left the man's house with an even bigger smile on his face. Sumia could only scratch her head as she and Gaius watched Stahl break up an escalating argument between two random men before helping someone else – this time a young woman – carry some food to their house. When Stahl walked back up to Gaius and Sumia, he was surprised to see their odd looks.

"Munches, what the hell was that?"

Stahl raised an eyebrow as an uneasy look formed onto his face. "I…I was just helping out people…"

Gaius waved his hands around and shook his head. "You know what, man? You've might've fooled Chrom and Lissa and all the others, but you can't fool me."

Stahl titled his hand, his uneasy look shifting into a dirty one. "Excuse me?"

"Look, Munches, you and I are stuck together, whether we like it or not. We may not be on the best of terms, but since we have no one else, you might as well tell me…what are your ulterior motives for being so nice?"

Now Stahl was getting angry. "Ulterior motives? What are you talking about? I just really like helping people!"

Gaius only scoffed at that. "I'm not dumb, Munches. I've actually seen this act before – the boringly nice guy."

"Well, you know what, Gaius? Some of us aren't jerks!" Stahl's eyes widened. He had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment. "Okay, I'm sorry for going there, it's just…"

But then Stahl had a thought. Gaius was right – they were stuck together. That meant they should be more open – and Stahl decided to be upfront about how he felt. "…You know what? No. I'm really sorry, Gaius, but I don't like you. You were way too harsh with Vaike and Henry and the other Sumia, and…granted, I shouldn't have ate all of your candy, but did you have to punch me for it? That was out of line, Gaius!"

Sumia could only sigh at this. She had no idea what Stahl was talking about, so she couldn't weigh in at all. She felt very weird just standing there while they bickered.

"Well, Munches, you're right. I was out of line. But that doesn't mean I'm fond of you. Now be honest and reveal your true motives!"

Before Stahl could retort, something got his attention. It was the hooded man. He was passing by through town – Stahl and Gaius exchanged quick glances before looking back to the hooded man.

"We will settle this later" Gaius, said, and he and Stahl went after the hooded man – much to Sumia's confusion.

"Where the hell are you two going?" She asked. She tried not to tell, for she didn't want to draw too much attention from the townsfolk.

Stahl and Gaius began to charge towards the hooded man. Gaius placed his hand on the man's shoulder and turned him around with it, gritting his teeth as he did. But then Gaius realized – this wasn't the same guy. He could tell by the brown hair this man sported – from what little they could make out, the hooded man sported white hair.

Stahl didn't seem to pick up on that, and began to grip his axe very tightly, to Sumia's concern. "Stahl, don't attract too much attention, you idiot!" she whispered.

"Don't worry, this will turn out fine." Stahl walked up to the hooded man. "Who are you, and why did you do this"

The man looked at Stahl like he was insane. "What are you talking about?"

Just then, Stahl himself remembered the white guy the hooded man had sported. "Oh…" Stahl could only blush in embarrassment. "M-my bad, sir, we…we thought you were someone else."

The man formed a fist in response. "Well, now I'm gonna be late for work because of you! Thanks a lot!" The man shot a glare towards Stahl and Gaius before storming away. "The nerve of some people!"

Gaius scratched his cheek, unsure of what else to do. "Well, that was…something…"

Stahl noticed that Sumia was glaring at the both of them, and he just laughed nervously, trying to think up his explanation.

Just then, the three were knocked out – not by Archanean soldiers, but by three men dressed in brown leather. Three soldiers did witness the event, though they only gave the men knowing glances before going on with what they believed were more important duties. Though, if Sumia had not fallen on her stomach and thus could be recognized by the soldiers, it would've gone very differently.

They stopped when they reached a tall black woman with long blonde hair – it was Flavia, and she only smirked as she looked at the unconscious trio.

"We got the nobles, as you demanded" one of the men said, and Flavia's smirk morphed into a grin.

"Man, I've never seen these two at any events…probably because they had no loyalty. Traitorous noblemen always make the finest slaves. Now, show me the woman."

The man carrying Sumia dropped her onto the ground, and Flavia had an ecstatic look on her face. The man, however, was only confused. "Madam, why did you want this woman?"

Flavia would immediately clarify her request. "I knew it! This is Sumia herself! Basilio will be pleased to have her as a trophy. Get all three of them onto the carriage!"

The men did as she asked and carried the three onto one of the three nearby arriage, where a few other slaves been chained up, fully conscious and looking miserable. Two of them groaned loudly as Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia were thrown onto the carriage.

Flavia and one of the men got on the carriage where the three were been kept, and she and her minions rode their way out of the town – with Stahl and Gaius not having the slightest clue of what was to come.


	8. The Slavemasters

Something that Stahl and Gaius had yet to learn about this world was that they would be rare among the continent's slaves for being 'traitorous nobles'. The slaves of the Archanean Empire could mostly be divided into two groups. There were the descendants of those who opposed the first Archanean king – as Sumia's ancestors did -…and the others were Valentians and Judgralians. Most of them were not happy to escape their dying continents just to be forced into slavery, but few of them had a choice.

Cherche's family was one of those few.

For the past thousands years, Cherche's family had successfully integrated themselves in Archanean society, but they were always looked down upon. People always mocked and belittled them, saying that they belonged in slavery. Cherche joined the Archanean army just to prove to everyone that a Valentian can make a name for themselves. The only other Valentian she had met during her soldier years was the late Lieutenant Virion – but she always shuddered whenever she thought of him.

As she continued her service for the Archanean Empire, she found herself questioning many of the decisions and strategies that Queen Cordelia and the army's higher-ups were devising in an effort to vanquish the threat of Captain Libra and the Insurrection. She placed her hand on her head as she once more contemplated her side of the war. Her thoughts were interrupted as her attention was stolen by Vaike and Kellam.

"Ooh, Kellam. I didn't notice you were there –"

Kellam snarled and gritted his teeth as he drew out his lance and pointed it towards Vaike.

"I have had it with this charade, Vaike! If you ever forget me again, I swear, I'll –"

"Kellam!" Cherche yelled out, trying to be as assertive as she could be. "Focus on the task at hand"

To her relief, Kellam pulled his weapon away, and the trio continued with the six accompanying soldiers into the forest.

Cherche looked around, a curious look coloring her face. "Phila is absolutely sure they've seen her around these parts?"

Kellam rolled his eyes. "Ugh, of course she is. Don't you know anything about her? You need to pay more attention, Valentian!"

Cherche was taken aback by Kellam's rather condescending tone, not having spent a lot of time with her fellow knight. "I was only asking…"

They continued to ride on their horses, Cherche getting more and more unnerved by how lifeless this forest seemed. Not only were there no regular animals, but they couldn't even see any firewalkers in sight, to the knight's relief.

It wasn't long before they reached a large cave, one that had a strange, unsettling vibe to it. Kellam turned his head to face Vaike, Cherche, and the soldiers. "This must be it! Now, remember who we are dealing with…"

Just then, howls could be heard from the distance – howls that were getting closer. Cherche gripped her lance, hoping with all her heart for the unlikely idea that these were regular wolves. That hope was shot down when she saw red fire emitting from their bodies.

"Firewalkers!" Kellam exclaimed, his horse neighing in panic. He pointed to the three soldiers to his left. "You three stay here with Cherche to deal with the firewalkers. The rest of you, come with me!"

Kellam, Vaike, and three of the soldiers ran into the cave, leaving Cherche alone with the other three. Cherche gulped, wondering why _she_ was the one forced to deal with the firewalkers. She quickly let out a deep breath as the four corrupted wolves charged towards one of the soldiers.

Cherche and the other two soldiers got off their horses and tried to stab at the wolves with their lances. The thing about firewalkers is that they are much harder to kill than normal animals – a corrupted wolf's heart would have to be punctured at least four times before its body would fall to the ground.

A soldier was able to do just that to one of the wolves, only to get mauled to death by one of the other ones. Firewalkers also had much more powerful bites than normal critters – they could easily bite through the armor of the soldiers.

Cherche was able to kill one of the other wolves, but not before it had slashed her in the face. The remaining two wolves teamed up on one of the other soldiers, quickly making dead meat out of him. The last remaining soldier looked absolutely terrified, but he persisted on and charged at one of the wolves. It was no use, however, and the wolf managed to kill the last soldier.

Cherche gulped again, as she was alone in fighting against two firewalkers. While the badly injured wolf gnawed at one of the dead soldiers, the other wolf jumped towards the knight and brought her down to the ground. The wolf snarled, and Cherche was terrified – but she wasn't going to give up. Just before it could bite her face off, she blocked its teeth with her lance, and kicked the canine off of her. She stabbed it several times, but the bastard was still breathing.

Before she could puncture any more wounds into the wolf, the other one jumped at her. She kicked this one off much quicker and began impaling it with all her strength until the wolf succumbed to its wounds and died. The other wolf began to charge at her, and she let out a war cry as she impaled it. She began stabbing the wolf repeatedly, letting in a few strikes even after the wolf was finally finished off.

She breathed heavily and she walked up to the cave and leaned towards its rocky walls. She didn't like how much blood was on her armor, but she was glad the threat of the wolves was over – for now.

She stood there for about a minute, trying to collect her thoughts, before Kellam, Vaike, and the other three soldiers came with – with three of the soldiers dragging a small green-haired lady out of the cave. She only wore tattered pink clothing, and she struggling to break free of the soliders' grip.

Vaike observed the dead soldiers and wolves lying on the ground. "Well…this went much bloodier than we had hoped…." Vaike said as he cupped his chin. "But at least we got what we came for. We have finally found Tiki"

"What….what do you want from me?!" Tiki yelled as she continued her struggle for freedom.

Kellam let out a small chuckle as he walked up towards the small manakete. "You'll find out soon enough, little one"

Tiki raised an eyebrow. "Wait, where did you come from?"

Kellam snarled again as he angrily grabbed her from the soldiers and threw her onto the ground. "You notice me now, huh? DO YOU NOTICE ME NOW?!" He walked up to Tiki as she began coughing, making Cherche nervous.

"Kellam…" she let out, hoping her fellow knight wouldn't let his anger get the better of him again. Vaike walked up to Kellam and Tiki with curiosity all over his face.

"I'm underwhelmed. Queen Cordelia has made us spend so much time looking for Tiki, and…just look at it. It looks so weak and pathetic. She doesn't seem that much more powerful than that manakete the Queen allegedly keeps in the castle dungeon."

"Well, remember, Vaike" Kellam replied as he glanced down at the mage. "It's not just any manakete. It's the last of the Divine Dragons. It's even more valuable than the last few Pegasi out there. Besides, the Queen – also allegedly – has…allies that can fix Tiki up."

Vaike let out an 'hmm' before then showcasing a sinister grin. "Well, let's have some fun with her before any of that happens". Kellam let out a sinister grin and kicked Tiki in the stomach while Vaike began to crack his knuckles. Cherche's eyes widened as she tried to think of a way to stop them.

"NO, DON'T!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, making everyone else jump a little. She let out another deep breath. "We…we don't want her too badly injured. Do you _really_ think Queen Cordelia would appreciate that?" While Cherche meant what she said, she also didn't want to see the two violently beat Tiki…and Vaike could see that in her eyes.

"Do you…do you feel for the manakete?" Vaike asked, with a mixed look of curiosity and contempt. "You Valentians really don't belong in this army…"

Kellam menacingly walked up to Cherche – though she was not a small woman, she looked tiny compared to the hulking knight that stood right in front of her. "Prove your loyalty, Valentian. Go to Tiki and give it a swift kick in the face. Knock it out."

Cherche paused for a moment while Kellam continued to give off a menacing vibe. She swallowed her breath and did as he asked. Kellam and Vaike were delighted, but Cherche didn't feel good in the slightest.

"Alright, soldiers" Kellam got on it horse. "Time to make way for Millennium Court!"

Cherche let out a sigh as she looked down at the ground. This was her life now, whether she liked it or not.

* * *

Deep down, Gaius hoped that all of this had been a dream. From the moment he slipped in that mud to getting knocked out along with Stahl and this new version of Sumia, he hoped this was a really long and really unpleasant dream. He groaned as he woke up, and felt a horrible feeling in his stomach as he accepted this was reality. It was dimly lit, and he could only barely see Stahl and Sumia next to him.

"Where…where the hell are we?" Gaius whispered, still feeling horrible to his stomach.  
Though he could not really see it, Sumia's eyes were very wide. "This is not good. This is not good at all…."

Stahl scratched his head. "I…I got nothing. Sumia, what is all this?"

"You're about to find out"

Eventually, the carriage came to an abrupt stop, and the back door to the carriage was opened – the glistening sunshine was welcomed, but jarring.

"All of you, get out!" Flavia said as everyone got out of the carriage. Since they were handcuffed, none of them could do anything to escape. "Take her to the house!" she said, and two of the armored men took Sumia away. Stahl and Gaius let the environment around them sink in. For once, there were green, lushful plants, but there were also countless slaves working, constantly picking at the plants. As they were moved along the plantation, they could see that these people were picking at cotton – and that nearly all of them had at least a few lashes on them. Whipping could be heard in the distance, to the dismay of the two.

Stahl, Gaius, and the other slaves were lined up in front of an empty area in the middle of the lush grassy fields in front of what appeared to be Flavia's house – it was a towering gray mansion, and it seemed that she lived a luxurious life there. Near them stood another row of slaves, except these slaves were horribly beaten. Most of their bodies were endowed with ugly lashes that were hard to look at. Several guards stood by them, and one stood out. This man wore dark brown leather and sported long brown hair, a scraggly beard, and completely pupiless eyes, but something about him looked very familiar.

"Well, well, my dear. You brought quite a batch today!" a large, imtimidating black man came out of the door. Stahl and Gaius immediately recognized them as Basilio, the Khan of West Ferox.

Basilio had in his left hand a bottle of beer, and he swiftly drank out of it. "My name is Basilio, and you have been brought here by my wife, Flavia. But you will refer to me as Master and to her as Mistress. Now let me make something clear to each and every single one of you! I am a man who wants things done quick and efficiently! I am not a man who deals with foolishness! Do you hear me?! Don't any of you even think of pulling any antics on me!"

He approached Stahl and Gaius. He punched the latter so hard in the face that he fell down. "Now, you see, I can do that because you are nothing anymore! Nothing but property!"

Stahl helped Gaius up as blood streamed from the redhead's nose.

"Most of you know how these things work, but every now and then, we get some slave that seems to think they deserve better, so I will make this clear right here, right now. If you deserve it for halfassing your work, or I'm just in a bad mood, you will be taught a lesson. A lesson that will you leave beaten and bloody. And I can do that because now, I own all your asses! But assault me, and I will make you wish for death! You will cry, you will plead, you will beg for death! For that matter, if any of you show any signs of rebellion, you will be taken away, beaten, and brought to our mages, who will have you brainwashed into obeying me!"

Basilio looked around as he laughed. "And speaking of indigent labor, you keep that up for a month and...here's what happens. LON'QU!"

The man who looked familiar to Stahl and Gaius was Lon'qu. He led the slaves closer to where the duo and the new batch were standing.

"Every month, the slaves who have been doing a subpar job of doing their tasks will pay for it with their lives! And this is mighty good timing, cause of all are you about to see what happens when you do not live up to my standards!"

He gave a signal to Lon'qu and the other guards. "NOW!"

As all the guards ganged up on the worn down slaves, Stahl and Gaius realized what was about to happen. Stahl could not bear to watch it. He closed his eyes and turned away as he hear horrible screams. The sounds of people being beaten horribly pierced his ears despite his attempts to tune it out. Then he could begin to hear whipping and stabbing, and he squinted his eyes tighter. He groaned as the he could painfully hear their suffering, even though he tried his best to tune them out.

Gaius could only look with horror. He was able to bare more of this ghastly sight than Stahl, but then it became too much to watch. He himself looked away as the bloodcurdling screams of these men and women intensified. Neither could bear to watch what was going on. As the pained shrieks continued, they wanted it to end. All the slaves watching wanted it to end.

Stahl and Gaius both realized right then and there just how miserable this experience was going to be.


End file.
